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HELUIZ WASH BURN E JEAN McCONNELL 











































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It’s only an April showershe said comfortingly 








LITTLE ELEPHANTS 
PICNIC 



STORY BY HELUIZ WASHBURNE 
PICTURES BY JEAN McCONNELL 

Author and artist of Little Elephant Catches Cold 
and Little Elephant's Christmas 

JUNIOR PRESS BOOKS 

ALBERfyWHlTMAN 

G" 4 CO 

CHICAGO 


Copyright, 1939, by 
ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 




©r'A 131152 

Lithographed in the U.S.A. 





JUL -7 1939 




W HEE!” cried Little Elephant as he threw 
back the covers and jumped out of bed. 
Usually Mother Elephant had to call him 
five times and then come in and shake him to wake 
him up. But today was Sunday and there was no 
school. Besides, Mother Elephant had promised to 
take him on a picnic today. 

He raised his trunk and waved it from side to side, 
sniffing the air. Mmmmmmm! What was that good 
smell, so warm and spicy? GINGERBREAD! 

Then Little Elephant wondered what he should 
wear. He galumphed out into the hall and called 
down “M-o-o-o-ther!” 

“What is it?” said Mother Elephant, who was very 
busy in the kitchen. 


5 







“What shall I wear?” 

“Your blue overalls, of course,” Mother Elephant 
trumpeted back. 

“They’re too dirty!” said Little Elephant, very 
loud. 

But Mother Elephant didn’t answer, so Little Ele¬ 
phant trotted back into his room. “Humph!” he snort¬ 
ed. “Who wants to wear blue overalls on a nice spring 
Sunday like this?” So he took out his best white 
sailor suit. 

“Goodness sakes!” cried Mother Elephant when 
Little Elephant came into the kitchen all dressed up. 

“We’re going on a picnic, aren’t we?” said Little 
Elephant, strutting around proudly, and holding his 
trunk very high. 

“Yes, but oh dear, oh dear, you’ll get it all dirty,” 
she said. 

“No, I won’t,” cried Little Elephant, “I pro-mise.” 

Little Elephant did look awfully nice in that new 
sailor suit. “Well, if you promise,” she said, and 
turned to take her gingerbread from the oven. 

“Can I take my sailboat?” asked Little Elephant, 
hopping around the table. “Can I take my fish pole?” 

“Yes, yes, of course you can,” answered Mother Ele¬ 
phant, “but for pity’s sake sit down and eat your 
breakfast, and don’t get under my feet.” Then she 


6 







So he took out his best white sailor suit 


















took up the pancakes she had been turning and put 
them on a plate. She placed a big lump of butter on 
top, and poured syrup all over them. 

Little Elephant didn’t talk any more then. He just 
ate his way down through that stack of pancakes, one 
after the other, as fast as he could. Then Mother 
Elephant gave him another stack, and he ate that. 

When he couldn’t eat any more, he watched Mother 
Elephant making the sandwiches for the picnic. The 
piles grew higher and higher, one pile of cheese, one 
of meat, one of peanut butter, and an extra big pile 
of jam sandwiches. For she knew Little Elephant 
loved jam sandwiches. 

Then he spied the stuffed eggs — a whole tray of 
them! “Oooh,” sighed Little Elephant, because he 
wanted one of those eggs and he was sure Mother Ele¬ 
phant wouldn’t let him eat one before the picnic. 
Reaching over he picked up one in his trunk. 

“Little Elephant, put down that egg,” said Mother 
Elephant without turning around. 

“Oh, I just wanted to smell it,” he said, as he 
laid it back. 

Into the great lunch basket went the sandwiches, 
a fried chicken, a vegetable salad, the gingerbread, 
the stuffed eggs, the potato chips, and all the other 
good things. 


8 



Reaching over he picked up one in his trunk 














At last the family started off. Father Elephant was 
wearing a new black and white checked cap set over 
one ear. And his tusks were all painted with red and 
black stripes. He had used the tusk-paint Little Ele¬ 
phant had given him for Christmas. Father Elephant 
was very proud of his looks. He walked ahead with 
big, slow steps, for he carried the heavy lunch basket. 
Every few seconds he turned around to say, “Do 
hurry up! We’ll miss the street car.” 

Mother Elephant, dressed in her red cape, and car¬ 
rying her big umbrella, followed after, swinging a big 
jug of lemonade from her trunk. 

Little Elephant had all he could carry with his boat 
and his fish pole. 

Grandpa Elephant came shuffling along behind with 
a tree-MEND-ous custard pie, all packed up in Moth¬ 
er Elephant’s hatbox! Of course, a custard pie was a 
queer thing to take on a picnic, but Mother Elephant 
made the most wonderful of custard pies. It was one 
of her specialties. 

“Now do be careful with that custard pie!” warned 
Mother Elephant. She didn’t really think the pie was 
very safe with Grandpa Elephant and she wanted to 
carry it herself. 

“Oh, don’t you worry,” squeaked Grandpa Ele¬ 
phant, “I’ll watch the pie.” 


10 



Father Elephant was wearing a new black and white checked cap 





But Mother Elephant did worry about the pie, and 
as they walked along she kept turning around to look 
at Grandpa and the pie. 

“There’s our street car,” called Father Elephant, 
starting to run. “Hurry up, it’s about to leave.” 

Mother Elephant gathered up her cape and ran too. 

Little Elephant trotted as fast as his legs would go. 
But then the string on his fish pole came loose. It 
tangled all around his legs and he had to stop and 
unwind it. And the hook got caught in the trousers 
of his new white suit. He got it out and ran on. 

Grandpa Elephant came along, puffing like a steam 
engine. But the hatbox was swinging safely from his 
trunk. 

Father Elephant got Mother Elephant and Little 
Elephant safely on board the street car. Then he 
reached out to pull up Grandpa. But the conductor 
was in a hurry to go, so he called out, “All aboard!” 
and pulled the bell. 

“Hey! Wait for Grandpa,” called Father Elephant. 

But the car was already moving. Grandpa Ele¬ 
phant ran alongside, panting. 

Then he saw he couldn’t get aboard with that hat- 
box in his trunk. “Here, catch this, Little Elephant,” 
he piped. And the box with the pie came sailing 
through the air. 


12 



The hook got caught in the trousers of his new white suit 










“The pie! The pie!” cried Little Elephant. He just 
knew what would happen to that beautiful pie. He 
was so scared he closed his eyes and reached out his 
trunk. Then, PLUMP! he had caught it, and right side 
up! 

Now Father Elephant had Grandpa by the ear and 
was pulling him up onto the platform, and poor old 
Grandpa was all out of breath. The street car was 
crowded because it was a beautiful Sunday and every 
elephant family wanted to go to the country. So there 
were no seats and Father and Mother and Grandpa 
and Little Elephant all had to stand up in the aisle. 

That was all right for Father and Mother and 
Grandpa, because they were tall and could reach the 
straps with their trunks. But Little Elephant swayed 
around with nothing to hold on to and he couldn’t see 
out of the window. He stepped on other passengers’ 
toes and they looked at him crossly; and Little Ele¬ 
phant was very unhappy indeed. 

Suddenly the car stopped with a terrible jerk and 
all the elephants bumped and joggled against each 
other as they slid toward the front. Father and Moth¬ 
er Elephant lost their balance and Grandpa disap¬ 
peared from sight. Little Elephant was squashed in 
the crowd. 

Then suddenly he heard the gentle wheezing voice 


14 



Poor old Grandpa was all out of breath 




















of Grandpa Elephant. Grandpa always lost his voice 
like that when he was excited. “Be careful of my 
custard pie!” he begged. “Please be careful of my 
pie!” 

Little Elephant pulled himself out of the crush and 
looked around. There was Grandpa Elephant strug¬ 
gling to get through the crowd and holding the hatbox 
high up over his head. When things got straightened 
out again, Grandpa Elephant lowered the box and 
looked inside. Was the pie squashed? No, there it was 
all safe, with the golden meringue sticking up in points 
all over the top. Mother Elephant’s wonderful custard 
pie! 

The car came to the end of the line and all the 
passengers got off. Mother and Father Elephant and 
Grandpa and Little Elephant started to walk through 
the park. They walked and walked. 


16 









There was Grandpa Elephant holding the hatbox high up 

over his head 























“This is a good place for a picnic,” said Father Ele¬ 
phant. 

“No, there isn’t any place for Little Elephant to sail 
his boat,” said Mother Elephant. So they walked on 
again. 

“Now here is a nice spot,” suggested Grandpa Ele¬ 
phant, for he was getting tired. 

“No, I think I see poison ivy there,” Mother Ele¬ 
phant declared. So they walked on some more. 

“There is a fine place for a picnic,” coaxed Little 
Elephant, who was getting hungry. 

“No, it is too sunshiny there. We must find a nice 
big shady tree so Grandpa can take a nap,” said Moth¬ 
er Elephant. And they walked on farther. 

Pretty soon Grandpa Elephant said he would sit 
down on a bench and rest his feet. Little Elephant 
said he would sit with him. So they rested while the 
others walked ahead. 

Soon Mother Elephant called them and said she’d 
found a perfect place for the picnic. There was a nice 
big shade tree for Grandpa, and a branch of the river 
ran near-by, so Little Elephant could fish and sail his 
boat. 

Father Elephant settled himself comfortably 
against the tree and opened the Sunday paper. 
Grandpa Elephant was all tired out from walking so 


18 



Father Elephant settled himself comfortably against the tree 








far and he lay down to take a little snooze. Mother 
Elephant spread a big white cloth on the green grass 
and began to unpack the lunch box. 

Suddenly she bellowed, “Where’s the custard pie?” 

“What did you say?” asked Father Elephant. He 
was reading the funnies and didn’t want to be both¬ 
ered. 

The only answer from Grandpa was a snore. 

“I said, what did you do with the custard pie?” and 
this time Mother Elephant bustled over to Grandpa 
and shook his shoulder. 

“Eh!” said Grandpa, who could be very deaf some¬ 
times, “the custard pie?” 

“Yes, it’s lost!” cried Mother Elephant, looking 
very worried. 

Then Grandpa Elephant scratched his head. “Lost? 
How could that be?” 

“Well, it’s not here,” she declared. 

“Now, how could I have lost the pie?” and Grand¬ 
pa Elephant looked worried, too. 

“Well, you’d better go and find it or I’ll never make 
another.” 

Never to taste another one of Mother Elephant’s 
custard pies! This was so terrible that Grandpa and 
Father Elephant and Little Elephant all started off at 
once to find the lost pie. They followed the paths 


20 



“Well, you'd belter go and find it" 

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back to the bench where Grandpa had rested. “I’m 
sure this is where I sat,” he said. But no pie was there. 

“I’ll go on to the next bench,” said Little Elephant, 
and trotted ahead. He came around a bend in the 
path, and there on a bench he saw the hatbox. But a 
big tramp elephant was just lumbering up toward the 
seat. 

“Oh, dear!” thought Little Elephant. “Suppose he 
should find out there’s a pie in that box.” So he ran 
as fast as he could to get there first. Just as the tramp 
elephant sat down on the bench Little Elephant 
skidded to a stop in front of him. 

“Please, sir,” he said, for Little Elephant could be 
very polite, “this is my mother’s hatbox.” And with 
that he picked it up in his trunk and ran off. His heart 
was beating very fast, but he had saved the custard 
pie. 

When he got back Mother Elephant looked very 
sternly at Grandpa and Father Elephant, but she said 
Little Elephant was a good boy. “You can run and 
play now,” she told him. “I’ll call you when lunch is 
ready.” So Little Elephant went off with his fish pole 
and sailboat. 

“Be careful of your new sailor suit!” Mother Ele¬ 
phant called after him, “and don’t go in the water.” 

Little Elephant soon found a bridge and for a long 


22 



“ Please , sir , £/iis is my mother's lmtbox ” 












time he stood there fishing. But after a while he got 
tired of not catching anything. Then he had a bright 
idea. He rested the pole against the railing of the 
bridge and held it down with a stone. Now he could 
go and play with his boat. If a fish nibbled he could 
see the line bob and run back. 

He had great fun with his sailboat, letting it float 
down the river while holding onto the string. Some¬ 
times he loaded it up with sticks, or he pretended 
there was a storm at sea. Then he took a big trunk 
full of water and blew it all over the little boat, until 
it almost sank. 

As he played he walked farther and farther along 
the bank. He had quite forgotten about his fish pole 
when suddenly he saw it sail past him down the river. 
A big fish was swimming away with it!- 

“Oh, my new fish pole!” he cried. 

Just then he heard Mother Elephant trumpeting, 
“Li-i-ttle E-e-e-le-phant! Li-i-ittle E-e-e-lephant!” 

He couldn’t go back without his fish pole and it 
was floating away fast. So he rolled up his nice white 
trousers and waded after it. The river was deeper than 
he thought and he was up to his waist before he caught 
hold of the fish pole. He tugged and tugged, but the 
fish tugged too. Little Elephant pulled in the line as 
fast as he could. Then he grabbed the fish with his 


24 









trunk. It was slippery, and it flapped and wiggled. 
But Little Elephant held on tight, and finally stuck it 
in his blouse. He’d never caught such a big fish! 

When he climbed out on the bank his nice new 
sailor suit was all dripping wet and water was run¬ 
ning down his trunk and off his ears. What would 
Mother Elephant say to him now? She.’d told him to 
be careful of his new sailor suit. 

The sun had gone under a cloud and he began to 
shiver. Then he sneezed, “Ker-choo! Ker-choo! KER- 
CHOO!” He galloped back as fast as he could to 
where Mother Elephant sat knitting. 

“Oh dear! Oh dear!” she cried when she saw Little 
Elephant coming with his suit all wet. “I told you not 
to wear your new sailor suit. Come here to me!” When 
she started to undress him the big wet fish fell out of 
his blouse. 

“Why, Little Elephant!” she cried, “did you catch 
that fish?” 

“Oh, I can catch bigger ones than that,” he said, 
trying not to look proud. 

Then Mother Elephant called Father Elephant to 
come and see Little Elephant’s fish. Father Elephant 
said it was a wonderful fish and he made a fire to 
cook it. Little Elephant sat in front of the fire all 
wrapped up in Mother Elephant’s cape, so he wouldn’t 


26 













catch cold. And Mother Elephant propped his clothes 
up on sticks around the fire to get dry. 

While the fish was cooking they all sat down to the 
picnic. Father Elephant passed the fried chicken, and 
Mother Elephant dished up the salad. Little Elephant 
ate a great deal of everything, especially the stuffed 
eggs. But after he’d eaten ten Mother Elephant said 
he’d better stop. So then he started on the bowl of 
potato chips. Little Elephant loved potato chips. He 
picked them up in his trunk, very daintily, one by one. 

Now Father Elephant said the fish was cooked, and 
gave everybody a piece. Grandpa mumbled “Mmm- 
mm! Dee-licious!” And Father Elephant said he’d 
never tasted a better fish. 

Mother Elephant was watching Little Elephant, 
who was gobbling. “Now do be careful of the bones,” 
she warned. Just then Little Elephant snorted and 
his eyes went crisscross, for a large bone had stuck 
right in his throat. 

“Quick!” cried Mother Elephant. “Little Elephant’s 
choking!” 

Father Elephant gave Little Elephant a thump on 
the back that sent the bone flying. Little Elephant 
gasped and then he was all right again. 

After that everything went along nicely till sud¬ 
denly the ants appeared and began to crawl over the 


28 



Father Elephant gave Little Elephant a thump on the back 






















tablecloth. At first there were just a few of them and 
Mother Elephant brushed them away with her napkin. 
But more and more came, and soon there was an army. 
Little Elephant tried blowing them away while Mother 
Elephant rescued the custard pie. Then Little Ele¬ 
phant felt something crawling up his nose. An ant! It 
tickled. He blew! He blew again! But it didn’t come 
out. He blew harder and shook his trunk. The ant 
was crawling up farther. 

“Humpha! Humpha!” he bellowed. He ran around 
in circles. He stood on his head. But the ant kept on 
crawling. Then suddenly the ant gave him a nip right 
on the tender inside of his nose. Little Elephant left 
the ground with a roar, his eyes blazing and his trunk 
standing out straight. 

When he landed again he shut his eyes and gave a 
mighty “WH-OO-OOF!” There, the ant was gone. 

But so were the potato chips! When Little Elephant 
opened his eyes, they were sailing through the air like 
leaves in the wind. 

Little Elephant’s clothes were dry now, so he put 
them on again. Mother Elephant gathered up the food 
and moved to a new spot. From time to time she 
looked up at the sky, for big dark clouds were float¬ 
ing past. They must all hurry and eat the custard pie. 
She cut the rich creamy pie into four large pieces. A 


30 



Little Elephant left the ground with a roar 







drop of rain fell, then another, and then several more. 

“Hurry up! It’s going to rain,” said Mother Ele¬ 
phant. Just as Little Elephant swallowed his last bite 
of pie, there came a flash of lightning, then a clap of 
thunder. And the rain poured down. 

Mother Elephant opened her great umbrella and 
they all stood underneath. “It’s only an April shower,” 
she said comfortingly. 

And sure enough, in a few minutes the rain stopped 
and the sun came out. Then Mother Elephant packed 
the dishes into the empty lunch basket and Father 
Elephant picked it up with his trunk. Grandpa Ele¬ 
phant took charge of the empty hatbox and Mother 
Elephant took the empty jug and her big umbrella. 
Little Elephant gathered up his fish pole and sailboat. 
Slowly they all walked back to the street car. And 
each one said, “We’ve never, never, NEVER had such 
a good picnic!” 















































































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